2018 Newsletter week 48

The already announced reverse merger of Moby into Compagnia Italiana di Navigazione (CIN) will be effective before the end of the year.

According to the related 2018/2023 business plan, the Onorato-controlled group will sell five unidentified ro-pax ships generating €305 million revenues and roughly € 145 million of capital gains.

Two smaller and older vessels are set for dismissal in 2019, further two modern units in 2019 and the last two ferries respectively in 2020 and 2021.

Some € 30 million will be also invested to install scrubbers on five ships before the end of 2019.

In the next few years the “new CIN” will charter-in some modern and higher capacity ro-pax units (most of them from Onorato Armatori) to be deployed on the routes linking Italy mainland to Sardinia and Sicily.

Onorato Armatori, company controlled by Vincenzo Onorato and his sons Achille and Alessandro, in few weeks’ time will take delivery of two ro-pax ships built from Flensburger shipyard, while further two ferries will be built in China by Guangzhou Shipyard International and set for delivery from 2021 onwards.

Naples-based Marnavi shipping group decided not to proceed with a takeover of the Sicilian ferry company Liberty Lines, after giving the investigation its due diligence.

The company founded in 1993 by Vittorio Morace has a fleet of 32 hydrofoils, making it one the largest high-speed maritime passenger transport company in the world, and it has also a shipyard in Trapani.

In 2016 Liberty Lines acquired Siremar and 50.9% of the share capital of Traghetti delle Isole, the shipping company operating between the smaller islands of western Sicily. As of today the company offers regular maritime connections from Sicily to the Aeolian islands, to the Egadi islands and Pelagie islands.

The company is still under the administration of an external commissioner following the court case renamed “Mare monstrum” which happened in 2017.

In the occasion of the presentation held in Messina of the new ferry Elio delivered to from Sefine shipyard, the chairman of the company,

Vincenzo Franza, chairman of Caronte&Tourist, announced that two more vessels will be ordered soon. He announced it during an event in Messina, where the Sefine-built ELIO was presented. The two new ferries are needed for the routes from Sicily to Lampedusa and Pantelleria. Both those maritime links are covered by Siremar, the ferry company jointly controlled by Caronte&Tourist and Liberty Lines.

“The projects are ready and we also have the funds” said Franza.

Negotiation were ongoing in the recent past with several shipyards in China, Portugal, Poland, Turkey and Italy, with Fincantieri.

The project has been developed by Naos Design.

This new series of ro-pax units should have 1,000 passenger capacity, up to 170 cabins and 650 lane meters plus 60 cars of space in the garage. Propulsion might be dual-fuel LNG, repeating the choice made for the new ferry ELIO.

This decision, is certainly not serving the Ionian island’s interests, however, the fierce competition in combination with the sustainability reasons presented by Kefalonian Lines, leave Levante Ferries free to dominate the Ionian Sea.

Some interesting facts though are:

the Ionian Group’s commitment to launch a ship on the Patras-Sami run but only if it is subsidized.

the further use of the old ALEXANDRA L. in the Aegean Sea, where Attica Group and Seajets are dominant as well as the fate of the old ZAKINTHOS I (photo) which has been decommissioned seven months ago.

Levante Ferries is expected to spend almost EUR 10 million for the purchase and conversion of Kefalonian Line’s, NISSOS KEFALONIA.

The ship is expected to return fully upgraded on the Killini – Zakynthos and Killini – Poros route before summer.

Dufry Group has signed a new long-term concession contract with P&O Ferries to operate shops under the World Duty Free brand on board 15 vessels.

The transfer of the operations with a total of 19 shops across a retail space of 3,600 m2 will be phased from April to May 2019.

Besides operating all shops, World Duty Free will be responsible for the refurbishment of the stores and for implementing state-of-the-art shop design to provide a tailored assortment proposition for each route.

This decision, is certainly not serving the Ionian island’s interests, however, the fierce competition in combination with the sustainability reasons presented by Kefalonian Lines, leave Levante Ferries free to dominate the Ionian Sea.

Some interesting facts though are:

the Ionian Group’s commitment to launch a ship on the Patras-Sami run but only if it is subsidized.

the further use of the old ALEXANDRA L. in the Aegean Sea, where Attica Group and Seajets are dominant as well as the fate of the old ZAKINTHOS I (photo) which has been decommissioned seven months ago.

Levante Ferries is expected to spend almost EUR 10 million for the purchase and conversion of Kefalonian Line’s, NISSOS KEFALONIA.

The ship is expected to return fully upgraded on the Killini – Zakynthos and Killini – Poros route before summer.

Swedish Orient Line announced that the Finnish port of Pietarsaari / Jakobstad will be approached once a week by the THULELAND and TUNDRALAND ro-ro ferries, extending the shipping company’s line network.

The route includes calls in Lübeck, Zeebrugge and Tilbury. The new route supports the export of paper products of the Finnish company BillerudKorsnäs from its plant in Pietarsaari as well as other import and export cargo from the region.

China’s mega project, the New Silk Road, is to intensify international trade between Asia and Europe in the long term through a stronger infrastructure. The project also offers new opportunities for the Port of Cuxhaven. Due to the increasing demand in the United Kingdom for goods from China, DFDS has now established the last link of the transport chain between Great Britain and China via Cuxhaven. DFDS organises and carries out the onward road transport to the Cuxport terminal of goods arriving from China in Hamburg by rail, as well as the following sea transport from Cuxhaven to Immingham.